Photo of the Week – Stikman in Chicago

by Christina on September 5, 2012

I posted not too long ago about Stikmen popping up near Boston, so I was on the look out for them in Chicago. I didn’t find any of the road decals but I did find one of the original stick figures. The Art Institute of Chicago sits on Michigan Avenue with the front steps looking down S Adams Ave. As you cross Michigan, literally a few yards from the Chicago Art Institute, there is a Stikman glued to a street light utility box and painted for camouflage. Thousands of people walk this way every day to enter the Museum. I wonder how many noticed the Stikman? I wonder how long he’s been there?

Hi, greetings from Ireland. I like your piece, very nice post. I’m fascinated by this type of quiet, subtle art, done by artists on their own initiative, without public programmes, or funding, often anonymously. I collect images, in a small way, of similar art here in Dublin. There is one, a tiny bronze statue of what looks like a crushed bird, set into the ground on the median between two roads near where I work. You would barely notice it. There is no text or information of any kind, but I recently found out it was made and placed there by a friend of someone who was hit and killed by a car in that spot. You know we had also had a funny commemorative plaque on O’Connells Bridge, right in the middle of the city centre. This was to a commemorate a priest I think, & their death falling off the bridge in a carriage during the 19th century. It looked so real and official nobody questioned it for months,. But the person turned out to be completely fictitious. They never existed! Finally, there is now a whole series of masks attached to walls, often just half or 2/3rds of a face. These also are mysterious, completely anonymous. They are spreading more and more. You can see them all over town now. Anyway, thanks for the post, keep up the good work. -Arran. (Dublin)

Thanks for your comments! I agree with you; “street art” demonstrates the artist’s inherent need to create which I think is beautiful. The Dublin examples sound very interesting. You’ll have to post about the masks soon. I’d love to see what is hiding around Dublin!